Monday, March 30, 2015

arts and [crafty]

architects are, and should be, crafty.

crafty in the sense that they should be clever in achieving
their aims by indirect, or possibly even deceitful, methods.now, deceitful might be going a bit far, but
i love the idea of accomplishing goals indirectly.

the world needs architects, and not just in a stamped a set
of drawings in get a permit kind of way.the world needs architects so buildings are more than just four walls
and a ceiling, but rather they start to take on a sense of space and become
something more. a quality, which turns locations into places and boring into
beautiful.however with budgets, code
requirements, zoning restrictions, short time lines and crazy deadlines
sometimes beauty can be hard to achieve.thankfully, as i mentioned, architects are crafty.in my limited experience, i feel there are
three main ways in which architects can be crafty and achieve the goal of
beauty.below are examples of craftiness
in my personal life as well as professional.

using simple materials in creative ways

at my desk i would accumulate various sizes and shapes of
scratch paper. hating to toss them into the recycle bin, i started practicing
origami. weirdly enough, the few simple pieces i had made, inspired our
office-cleaning guy to get into the game as well. soon after, i started finding
better examples of origami on my desk, which i gladly kept.i love the idea of how paper, which could
have easily been tossed aside becomes something beautiful. i keep them at my
desk to remind me of this.

similarly, the eames house by ray and charles eames used
this idea. they used off the shelf steel parts for the structure of their house
and created an icon of modern architecture. an extremely creative use of simple
materials to create beauty.

reuse

growing up, my mom would save the uneaten heels of bread in
our freezer.when enough of these frozen
bags had accumulated, she would take the heels and make amazing bread pudding.
not only that, but the unused bags would then become my lunch bags.as a punk 12-year-old kid i hated this, as i
had to constantly answer questions from classmates on why i had brought bread
for lunch. luckily as an adult i realize my mom was simply reusing the bags
because it was easy, simple and saved money. oddly enough i still find myself
saving these bags and heels even though i don’t make bread pudding nor take my
lunch in the bags.

the house of dance of feathers was a project i worked on
after college.we rebuilt a backyard
museum in the lower ninth ward, which had been destroyed by hurricane
katrina.we had a tiny budget and had to
scavenge for nearly every material we used. we gathered donations from
companies, salvaged old parts and equipment and reused building scrapes. we
saved and used everything. we were desperate, without the luxury of a budget.
we had no choice but to be crafty.

proportion

i was told as an architecture student that good proportions
don’t cost any money. when you factor in the cost of materials this might not
be entirely true, but it’s close. getting the height and width of a building
right is priceless.there’s a feeling
you get when you walk into a well-proportioned space that just feels right.in my young experience i’m not sure i’ve ever
designed a beautifully proportioned space, but it’s always a goal. it’s a
crafty way to achieve beauty in the face of restrictions.

i also use good proportions in my personal life. at 5’-10”
and 200lbs i’m a stocky guy. however i’ve discovered if i wear my redwing
boots, i add just a bit more height, evening out my proportions. not only do
they give they give me height, but the seem to be the hipster shoe of choice,
keeping me fashionable as well. arguably not spending any more money than a
good pair of dress shoes and great for the job site. using craftiness to
achieve beauty….

well… maybe not beauty…but at least another inch.

simple materials in creative ways, reusing materials and
good proportions.